Repeating device for sound-reproducing machines



March 11" 1924. 1,486,724

C. W. BLOEMKER REPEATING DEVICE FOR SOUND REPRODUCING MACHINES Filed May 9, 1921 4 Sheets-Sbegf 1 March 11 1924. 1,486,724

c. w. BLOEMKER REPEATING DEVICE FOR SQUND REPRODUCING MACHINES Filed May 8, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 11 1924.

C. W. BLOEMKER REPEATING DEVICE FOR SOUND REPRODUCING MACHINES Filed Ma 9, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 nmf' 112;, H CrlewWBlaenu March 11 1924.

c. w. BLOEM KER REEEAT ING DEVICE FOR SQUND REPRODUCING MACHINES Patented Mar. 11, 1924.

UNITED STATES CHARLES WILLIAM BLOEMKER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

REPEATING DEVICE FOR. SOUND-REPRODUCING MACHINES.

Application filed May 9, 1921. Serial No. 467,850.

To all whom it may con-06m:

Be it known that I, CHAnLns WILLIAM BLOEMKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Repeating Devices for Sound- Reproducing Machines, of which the foL lowing is a specification.

One object of my invention is to provide a repeating device of a durable and practical construction which can be readily attached to a sound reproducing machine without manually changing the construction of the machine and which will automatically operate to repeat the playing of a record irrespective of the distance of the initial or finishing playing groove of the record from the center thereof.

Another object is to make my improved device of a comparatively simple construction which can be put on a sound reproduo ing machine so as not to appear unsightly and which will not injure the record.

These objects, and other advantageous ends which will be described hereinafter, I attain in the following manner, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a sound reproducing machine of a well known type having my improved repeating device attached thereto,

' Figure 2 is a side elevation looking in the direction of the arrow as in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is an enlarged section taken on the line 83 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a'fragmentary top plan view showing the position of the parts during the playing of a record,

Figure 5 is a view of the same general character as that shown in Figure 4 illustrating the record having been played and showing the reproducing needle having been lifted from the record so that the parts will be moved by automatic means to the positions shown in Figures 1 and 2 to again start the playing of a record,

Figure 6 is a side elevation of Figure 4 looking in the direction of the arrow 3 Figure 7 is a side elevation of- Figure 5 looking in the direction of the arrow 2,

Figure 8 is an enlarged section taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 4,

Figure 9 is an enlarged section taken on the line 99 of Figure 5,

Figure 10 is a. fragmentary rear elevation of an adjustable gaging support, and

Figure 11 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 11-11 of Figure 5.

Referring to the drawings, 12 represents a sound reproducing machine of well known type including a tone arm 13 which is pivotally mounted to swing in a horizontal plane and which has a tube or gooseneck l4 pivotally mounted to swing in a vertical plane; said gooseneck having a sound box 15 thereon which is provided with a reproducing needle 16 adapted to engage the grooves of the record 17; saidrecord being rotatable in a horizontal plane upon a turntable 18. The sound reproducing machine includes a cabinet or supporting structure 19 to which I secure the base plate 20 of a bracket 21 preferably by screws 22. The bracket 21 includes a standard 23 which, as shown in Figure 11, has a pivot screw 24 extending therethrough upon which is mounted a stop 25; said stop being adapted to be secured in any pivotal position on the screw 24 by a nut 26 on said screw; there being a spacing member 27 which is adapted to be abutted by a shoulder 28 on the screw so that when the nut 26 is tightened, the stop 25 will be clamped to the standard 23. It will thus be noted that the stop 25' can be partially rotated on the screw 24 as a pivot when the nut 26 is loosened and this adjustment is made to limit the swinging movement of the tone arm to bring the reproducing needle over the initial playing grooves of the record in a manner hereinafter described.

The stop 25 has one endof a spring wire 29 secured thereto; said spring wire being curved and adapted to partly embrace the tone arm 13 as clearly shown in Figures 3, 8 and 9. It will thus be understood that when the tone arm is swung for example into the positions shown in Figures 4, 8 and 9 that the wire 29 will be placed under tension and partly straightened out but is capable under certain conditions when the tone arm is freed to swing the tone arm into the position for example as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. The screw 24 has a head 30 larger than the shoulder 28 and on this shoulder between the head 30 and the spacing member 27 is pivotally mounted a lever 31; said lever having a curved extension 32 provided with a weight 38, and a hooked extension 34 as clearly shown in Figures 2, 3, 8 and 9; said hooked extension during the operation ofthe device serving as lifting means as will hereinafter be described. The bracket 21 has an upright portion 35 provided with a slot 36 shown in F igure 10. 1 A gaging support 3r is slidably pqSltlOllGCl. between the rear of the upright 30 anda toothed rack 38. A shaft 39 extends through the slot 36 into a hole in the gaging support 37 said shaft having a toothed wheel 40 thereon adapted to engage the teeth 41 of the rack 38. A handle 42 is provided so as to rotate the wheel 40 and shaft 39 and during this rotation the wheel 40 will move along the rack 38 so as to move the gaging support 37 in a horizontal direction which renders the gaging supportedjustable for a purpose hereinafter described. The top of the gaging support 37 is in the form of a substantially horizontal overturned ledge 43 and is adapted during the playing of a record to support the looped end 44 of a spring rod 45 which is attached at one end to a lever 46. This lever 46 is pivoted at 47 preferably by a screw to an arm 48 of a clamping ring 49; said clamping ring being secured to the head 50 of the tone arm 13.

The forward end of the lever 46 is provided with an adjustable member 51 which is illustrated in the. form of an eccentrically mounted disk which may be turned into va rious positions and will remain in said positions due to the friction betweenit and the lever 46. This end of the lever 46 is normally positioned a si'lflicient distance from the connecting part of the goos'eneck with the sound box to permit any vertical variations of the record so that during the playing of the record the disk 51 or lever 46 vill not interfere with the movement of the gooseneck or sound box; such position for example being shown in Figure 6. The opposite end of the lever 46 has a tail portion 52 providing a shoulder 53 and a finger 54 which depends at the forward end of the shoulder. The looped end 44 of the spring rod 45 is free of the lever and normally spaced from the tail portion 52 as clearly shown in Figure 6. A weight 55 is adjustably slidable on the lever 46'forward of the tail portion 52 and'may be clamped in any desired position by means of a screw 56.

During the playing of the record the looped end 44 of the spring rod 45 slides on the ledge 43- of the gaging support 37 and keeps the tail end of the lever 46 raised with the forward end of the lever 46 clear of the sound box-supporting end of the gooseneck 14 so that the sound box is notinfluenced by the lever 46. It will be understood however that the tail end of the-lever 46 is sufficiently heavy to cause the front end of the lever to swing the sound box-supporting end of the gooseneck upwardly when the looped end 44 of the rod 45 moves off the'ledge 43 of the gaging support 3?; such position for example being shown in Figure 7.

The finger 54 on the tail of the lever 46 has a hooked arm 57 secured thereto; said hook d a rm preferably being made of a piece of resilient wire and is adapted during the playing ofthe record to engage a pin 58 on the lever 31 and cause the lever to be swung from the position shown in Figure 3 to the position shown in Figure 8 so that the weight 33 will be moved from a positionat one side of a vertical plane passing through the axis of the screw 24 to a position at the opposite side of said plane with the curved part 32 of said lever 31 in the path of swinging movement of the tone arm 13. The lever 31 has a projection 59 which, when the tone arm is moved by the spring, 29, will be engaged by the tone arm causing the lever 31 to be swung until the weight 33 moves in an opposite direction beyond said plane so as to overbalance the lever and cause it to swing on the screw 24 as a pivot to raise the hooked portion34.

'lhe'gaging support can be adjusted to suit thewidth of the playing groove portion of the record so that the looped end 44 of the spring rod'w'ill move off'the ledge 43 when the playing of the record has been completed. This action permits the tail end of the lever 46 to drop and the'forward end of the lever will swing the sound box upwardly to raise the needle from the record as clearly shown in Figure 7. After this action takes place the spring 29 will move the tone arm and sound box toward thein itial playing groove of the record with the sound'b'ox still in a raised position. During this action and when the same has nearly been completed, the tone arm by engagement with the portion 59 of the lever 31 will swing the lever into an overbalancing position and th hooked part 34 will engage under the shoulder 53 of the tail of the lever 46 and raise said tail end to permit the sound box due to its weight to again engage the record and it will be noted that during this movement of the lever 46 the spring rod 45' will be flexed due to the movement of the looped end 44 under the ledge 43 and when the looped end 44 reaches a position above the top surface of the ledge 43, the rod 45 will again spring rearwardly so that the looped end 44 will move over thetop of the ledge and rest thereon. It will be noted that during the playing of the record, as the looped end 44 comes near the end of the ledge 43, and after the weight 33 has been moved into a position beyond said vertical plane that the hooked arm 57 will have '1noved outward beyond the end of pin 58 (see Fig. 4) andwill thus clear the pin 58 so that the tail end of the lever 46 is free to fall without interfering with the position of the lever 31. However, when the hooked part 34 of the lever 31 again raises the lever 46, the hooked arm 57 will be in a position below the pin 58 and when the tail end of the lever 46 is again raised the free end 57 of the arm 57 will move back past the outer end of pin 58 (see 4) and will occupy a position at the opposite side of the pin 58 ready for another lifting action of the weight 33 during the playing of the record. The weight 33 can be made comparatively small since it will be noted that when the lifting action of the tail end of the lever 46 takes place that the weight of the sound box and gooseneclr will be upon the forward end of the lever; thereby reducing the weight of the tail end of the lever 46. In other Words, the weight 33 need only be sufiicient to overcome the clifference between the weight of the tail end of the lever 46 and the weight of the gooseneck and sound box. The adjustment disk 51 need only be moved in case of variation in the length of needle used and under normal. con ditions this disk is not necessary. However, I have provided the same in case needles varying greatly in length are desired to be used; it being sufiicient to state that it is merely necessary to leave a clearance distance between the forward end of the lever and the gooseneck or any part of the sound box adjacent thereto which it is desired to lift.

The stop 25 can be moved to permit the tone arm to swing outwardly to various extents so as to accommodate records of diiferent diameters and in which the initial playing grooves are located at various distances from the axis of the turntable. It will also be understood that a distinctly novel construction is provided in attaching the spring 29 to the stop 25 since by so connecting the spring the spring will operate to insure that the tone arm is always swung into engagement with the stop 25 and held in engagement; this action being completed slightly before the needle moves into engagement with the initial playinggroove of the record. Thus the stop 25 can be ad justed to suit the initial playing groove of the record and the gaging support 37 can be adjusted to free the looped end 44 of the spring rod 45 when the record has been completely played and due to the adjustment of the rack 38 and wheel 40 the sup port 37 can be moved toany position desired so as to secure a complete playing of the record before the repeating action takes place.

The weight 55 can be moved on the lever 46 to accommodate sound boxes of diiferent weights and in actual use of the device, I have found that the parts operate in a dependable manner as above set forth to automatically repeat the playing of a record and owing to the hooked or cam shape character Ofthe portion 34 the reproducing needle will be lowered into engagement with the record so as not to injure the record.

IVhile I have described my invention as taking a particular form, it will be understood that the various parts of my invention may be changed without departing from the spirit thereof, and hence I do not limit myself to the precise construction set forth. but consider that I am at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent is 1. In a sound reproducing machine, a member movable in opposite directions and having record engaging sound reproducing means thereon whereby said member is moved in one direction due to engagement of the sound reproducing means with the grooves of the record; means for raising thesound re 'n-oducing means out of engagement with the record; means actuated under tension and embracing said first member for moving said member in an opposite direction; and means actuated by said first named member and operative on said raising means to permit lowering of said sound reproducing means into engagement with grooves of the record,

2. In a sound reproducing machine, a support having a ledge formed on one end thereof; a lifting lever for the sound reproducing means; and a resilient member carried by the lifting lever and having an extension having a looped end portion adapted to slidably rest on the ledge of said sup port.

3. In a sound reproducing machine, a tone arm movable in opposite directions and having record engaging sound reproducing means thereon whereby said tone arm is moved in one direction due to engagement of the sound reproducing means with the grooves of the record; means having an operative connection with the sound reproducing means for raising said sound reproducing means out of engagement with the record; a member embracing said tone arm and automatically operative to move said arm in an opposite direction; oscillatory means engaging and operating on said raising means to permit return of the sound reproducing means into engagement with the record, said oscillatory means being pro-- vided with a portion having a weight at its outer end; and projecting means on said oscillatory means adapted to be engaged by the tone arm when moved in said opposite direction for overbalancing the weight to oscillate said oscillating means for actuating said raising means.

4. In a sound reproducing machine, atone arm movable in opposite directions and having record engaging sound reproducing means thereon, whereby the arm is moved in one direction due to engagement of the sound producing means with the record; a lever operatively connected to said sound reproducing means; means on the tone arm providing a fulcrum for said lever; means for operating said lever to raise the sound reproducing means out of engagement with the record; a resilient member curved in the direction of its length embracing said tone arm and automatically operating to move said arm in the opposite direction; means mounted for oscillatory movement to operate on the lever operating means to effect return of the sound reproducing means into engagement with the record; a weight carried by said oscillatory means; and a projection on said oscillatory means engageable by the tone arm when moving in the opposite direction to overbalance the weight and oscillate said means.

5. A device of the class described including a tone arm having sound reproducing means thereon; a lifting lever having an operative connection with the sound reproducing means and carrying a weighted member at one end; a member carried by said lever and provided with an extension having a looped portion; a support on which said looped portion is adapted to travel and drop therefrom to operate said lifting lever; oscillatory means having a portion engaged by the tone arm to oscillate said means in one direction; and an extended arm on said oscillatory means for operating on said weighted member to return said member to its initial position with said looped end portion resting on the support.

6. In a sound reproducing machine, atone arm movable in opposite directions and having record engaging sound reproducing means thereon whereby the arm is moved in one direction due to engagement of the sound reproducing means with the grooves of the record; a lever operatively connected to said sound reproducing means; means on the tone arm providing a fulcrum for said lever; vmeans for operating said lever to raise the sound reproducing means out of engagement with the record; a spring member curved in the direction of its length embracing said tone arm and automatically operative to move said tone arm in the opposite direction; means adapted to be mounted foroscillatory movement to operate on the lever operating means to effect lowering of the sound reproducing means intoengagement with the record a weight carried by said oscillatory means; a projection on said oscillatory means engaged by the tone arm when moved in said opposite direction to overbalance the weight carried by the oscillatory means to effect oscillation of said oscillatory means in one direction;a pin member on said oscillatory means; and a resilient hook arm associated with the lever operating' means adapted for engagement with the pin member to oscillate the oscillatory means in a direction to change the positionof the weight member.

7. In a sound reproducing machine a member movable in oppositedirections and having record-engaging sound reproducing means thereon whereby said, member moved in one direction due to engagement of the sound reproducing means with the grooves of the record; gaging supporting means; a weighted lever carried by said member and having a portion slidable on said supporting means whereby when said member moves in said direction so that said portion of the lever passes oil said supporting means, the weighted lever will swing,

said weighted lever having a part operative during its swinging movement to raise said reproducing means out of engagement with a record; means for swinging said member in an opposite direction; a weighted lifting lever; and means actuated by said member during said first movement thereof to swing said lifting lever into an over-center position said lifting lever having a portion adapted to be moved during the movement of said member in an opposite direction to again swing said lifting lever into a position away from said over-center position said lifting lever havinga part adapted to actuate said first lever during said latter movement of thelifting lever to effectthe movement of the reproducing means into engagement with the record and the support of the first mentioned lever on said gaging means; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES WILLIAM BLOEMKER. I Witnesses:

ELIZABETH GARBE, CHAS. E. Porrs. 

